National Novel Writing Month

Writing Novels

Dream of Writing a Novel?

If you have ever dreamed of writing a novel, there is now a collaborative project designed to help you and others like you do exactly that. If you google the phrase in the title, you will come across a site devoted to this program. The idea behind it is -- well, to write a 50,000 word novel in a single month. Now can you write a publishable short novel in that short period of time? Probably not.

However, some people have found that they have been able to sort of "spit out" a reasonable (or at least semi-coherent) first draft. And for many writers, especially writers who are focusing on doing creative or fictional work, getting that first draft on paper can be the most challenging part. It's not that working on revisions is not also challenging. But - if you don't have that initial draft to work from, well then, what have you got. This challenge forces you - pushes you - compels you to get that first draft out on paper.

You push your way through writer's block and you "just do it" (like the old commercial says). What's great is that you have a community of fellow writers who are also pushing themselves their hardest to write a short novel in a month's time. And because you all "have each other's back," the entire process feels a lot less daunting. There really is strength in numbers, and you start to feel like all of you are a team. This can be an especially powerful and positive feeling for writers, who often toil away alone in relative isolation for hours on end, without a whole lot of company.

Imagine a huge cadre of fellow writers cheering you on as you write, telling you that you can do it, that you have set this great goal for yourself and that you are now well on your way to achieving it. And here's the best part: Even if you don't quite achieve your goal of writing a 50,000 word first draft within the month time frame of the project, you still will probably have several thousand words under your belt by the time the whole thing is over -- and that is likely several thousand more words than you had written before you started. It's a genuine win-win situation. Head over to the website and see if it's for you. Even if it's not quite your cup of tea, just knowing that such a program exists might motivate you to get started on that writing project you have been mulling over for ages.